


I Will Go Down with This Ship

by mcgarrygirl78



Series: BSU [5]
Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: F/M, Friendship, Humor, Parody, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-28
Updated: 2012-04-28
Packaged: 2017-11-04 11:03:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/393116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mcgarrygirl78/pseuds/mcgarrygirl78
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“There could be a love scene in her future.” Rossi replied grinning.  “She and Jack Scalia could be hot together.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Will Go Down with This Ship

**Author's Note:**

> BSU is back! The title comes from that Dido song White Flag and the phrase I've been hearing on Tumblr the past couple of months when it comes to shipper dedication. The Consulting Gig, …And Starring Josh Brolin as Jack “Pres” Preston, The Intricacies of Human Behavior and a little BS, and HBICs and Having to Let Go…Maybe all feature this show and reading those might help with character names and confusion but I also believe this fic can stand alone.

“I got a little turned around but we found it.” Sam said as he and Jessie walked into Dave Rossi’s kitchen.

“I think he was navigating by the North Star, which turned out to be a plane descending into Reagan.”

Everyone laughed while Sam just pointed at his wife. 

“Jessica Kassmeyer, ladies and gentlemen. She’s here all week.”

“It’s good to see you again Sam.” Dave extended his hand. “How's the fugitive business?”

“Crazy.” he replied. “I'm on a desk a lot these days but there are still a few active field cases that I'm involved in. How’s the sociopath business?”

“Busier than anyone would like. I'm not sure you guys have been properly introduced to Erin Strauss.”

“We met at Haley’s funeral.” Jessie said shaking Erin’s hand. “It’s nice to see you under better circumstances.”

“You as well.” Erin replied. She shook Sam’s hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Marshal Kassmeyer.”

“Please call me Sam. We’re here to have a good time tonight.”

“T-25 minutes till show time.” Emily walked into the kitchen with Jordan. They were carrying empty wineglasses. “Hey, I didn’t know you guys were here.”

“We finally made it.” Jessie replied. “I'm so excited about the premiere tonight.”

“I think she’s been waiting for it since March as a matter of fact.” Sam said.

“Who do you ship?” Jordan asked. She grabbed the Chateau Ste. Michelle and poured a liberal amount into her glass. “We’re setting up factions in the living room.”

“Oh Lord.” Hotch rolled his eyes. “Where are you sitting, Em, out in the middle with a foot on each side?”

“Don’t make me pinch you.” she held out two fingers to show she meant business. “I will go down with my ship. Still, there's nothing wrong with multi-shipping for a little extra fun.”

“I can't say I really ship them but Pres and Nick…”

“Oh my God, yay!” Jordan threw her arms around Jessie like they were long lost sisters. “It’s practically canon.”

“I've loved them since the premiere.” Jessie replied. “I don’t know what it is, the writers keep it subtle, but it’s something.”

“It’s definitely something.” Erin said.

“You too Erin?” Jessie looked at the Section Chief.

“Mmm hmm,” she nodded.

“Where are the people who don’t care about such things going to sit?” Sam asked.

“You can sit with me.” Hotch replied. “I'm here under complete duress.”

“Oh shut up.” Emily leaned to give him a kiss. Then she poured more wine. “Dave, can we take this shrimp fondue?”

“Absolutely.” Rossi nodded. “There's more where that came from. Sam, Jessie, what can I get you to drink?”

“Beer is fine.” Sam said.

“I’ll take a beer too.”

“T-17 minutes.” Jordan said as she checked her watch. “I'm so excited.”

“That makes one of us.” Hotch mumbled.

“Aaron Hotchner, if you can't say anything nice…go sit by Strauss.”

They all laughed as Dave handed Sam and Jessie bottles of Miller High Life.

“I can't.” Hotch replied with his patented straight face. “She's a Pres/Palmieri shipper.”

***

“ _You're here late.” SSA Trish Fitzgerald walked into the kitchen where SSA Chet Pepper was making coffee._

_“That paperwork isn’t going to do itself.”_

_“You're a genius, Chet, shouldn’t you be working faster sweetie?”_

_“You'd think right?” Chet smirked._

_Trish sighed, leaning on the counter. This would be tough for her but it was time. It was past time._

_“Chet?”_

_“Yeah?” he looked at her._

_“I need to talk to you about something important.”_

_“You can talk to me about anything.” He said. “We've had our ups and downs in the past but you’ve always been there for me. What’s going on?”_

_“It’s about your father.” Trish said._

_“I don’t want to talk about him.” Chet looked down at the counter._

_“It’s not about your father and you. It’s about your father and me.”_

_Chet looked at her. There was something in her tone; he knew where this was going. Chet didn’t want to talk about that either. His father had destroyed enough. He wasn’t going to destroy his new family._

000

_Senior SSA Nick Palmieri walked out of Sierra-Tucson Rehabilitation Center, shielding his eyes from the Arizona sun. There was a blue Jaguar XJ8 in park a few feet away. He smirked when he saw who was behind the wheel._

_“What the hell are you doing here?” he asked. There was no disdain in his voice, mostly curiosity._

_“Once upon a time you promised me an epic road trip.”_

_“That was probably 25 years ago, Karen.”_

_“How long it takes matters little.” Section Chief Karen Strasser tossed him a pair of Ray-Bans. “You're going to need these.”_

_“We’re really driving back to DC?”_

_Palmieri put the sunglasses on. He threw his duffle bag into the tiny backseat before climbing into the car._

_“You have something better to do?” Karen countered._

_“Not entirely. I control the radio.”_

_“Dream on.”_

_“Why are you doing this?” he asked._

_“I refuse to listen to the Rat Pack or some variation thereof for the next 34 hours. I have a few patches of sanity left and I want to keep them thanks.”_

_“That’s not what I meant, Karen.”_

_“Buckle up, Nicky. You know I like to drive fast_.”

000

“ _This is bullshit, Pres; you know I didn’t do this.”_

_SSA Roman Gray paced the interrogation room at Metropolitan Police Department in DC._

_“They're under a lot of pressure to solve this case.”_

_“You think I don’t know that. They just wasted a lot of valuable hours interrogating me. I damn near caught the son of a bitch.”_

_“We don’t know if it was The Slayer.” BSU Unit Chief Jack Preston replied._

_“All of the hallmarks were there. The victim…”_

_“The victim, Roman? You're referring to Audrina as the victim now?”_

_Roman stopped packing when he said that. He’d been going on pure adrenaline for over 12 hours. Hearing his estranged wife’s name made him pause. Now standing still, Roman could feel himself crashing down. Audrina was dead._

_She wasn’t just dead; she’d been violated, tortured, and murdered. Something about it felt so personal. Sinking into the chair, Roman put his face in his hands. Then he ran his hands over his bald head. As harsh as it sounded he barely had time to mourn._

_“I need to find the bastard who did this.” He mumbled. “You have to get me out of here and I have to find whoever did this.”_

_“We’re going to find him.” Pres squeezed his shoulder._

_“Just get me the hell out of here!”_

_A police officer walked into the room._

_“Special Agent Gray, MPD just located the cabbie. He’s thus far corroborated much of your story. While we don’t recommend leaving town, you're free to go.”_

_“This isn’t over.” Pres said as the officer left the room. “It’s not over by a long shot._ ”

***

“Oh my God, they're going there with Palmieri and Strasser this season.” Jordan said. “What gives?” 

“It’s just the premiere.” Penelope said. “There are 12 more episodes to go.”

“Actually there are 14.” Jessie replied. “I read there will be 15 episodes for Season 3.”

“I want to be a fly on the wall for that road trip.” Will said. “They’ve got history.”

“I don’t.” Emily scrunched up her nose.

“They're gonna give Roman all hell.” Derek shook his head. “But it'll be nice to see Tyrese break out of the box some. He's more than just a beefcake.”

“I don’t think Chet’s ever gonna speak to Trish again.” Spencer said. “He’ll see this as the ultimate betrayal.”

“Chet sees everything as the ultimate betrayal.” Kevin said.

“Why would he?” JJ asked. “The affair was forever ago and has nothing to do with him.”

“Sometimes Chet makes everything about him.” Emily said. “It’s the only child syndrome.”

“I'm an only child.” Reid replied.

“Me too.” Emily pinched his cheek.

“Me too.” Jordan, Penelope, Austin, and Will raised their hands. 

“She's right about only child syndrome.” Austin said.

“I admit to being excited about the introduction of a U.S. Marshal to the cast.” Sam said. “Jess Caulfield will add another layer to Pres’ intriguing back story. I love that he's named after my wife.”

“What's so intriguing about Pres’ back story?” Hotch asked. “There's no way he could be 45 and do everything he did before the FBI. He’d have to have the ability to clone himself. And too many things about these characters hit too close to home. Now we find out that a serial killer killed his mother, nearly killed his sister, and has escaped from custody…its ridiculous. How long do you think it'll be before Jess is falling in love with Pres’ sister? What's her name again?”

“Oh my God, Gwyneth.” JJ said. “We haven’t seen her since Season 1. Who played her?”

“Was it the girl who used to be on _Cold Case_?” Kevin asked.

“No, it wasn’t her.” Emily said shaking her head. “I thought it was the girl from _One Life to Live_.”

“We don’t even know if the woman who was murdered was really Pres’ mother.” Dave said. “He still hasn’t opened the DNA letter from his father’s mistress.”

“Thanks for the reminder.” Hotch rolled his eyes.

“Tricia Helfer!” Derek exclaimed. “She played Gwyneth. She's the babe from Battlestar Galactica.”

“Oh yeah.” Emily nodded. “Now I can see her vividly. I wouldn’t mind seeing her again, especially getting it on with Steven Eckholdt.”

“You're quiet Erin.” Jordan looked at the Section Chief.

“Does anyone else think Meredith Baxter got work done recently?” she asked. “She's over 60 and she looks fabulous.”

“It might be good genes.” Kevin replied. “I loved her on _Family Ties_.”

“There could be a love scene in her future.” Rossi replied grinning. “She and Jack Scalia could be hot together.”

“Eww,” Emily covered her mouth. “Oops, I mean…”

They could only laugh when a pillow sailed in her direction.

“I'm still saying Pres/Palmieri forever.” Jordan said. “The rest is just filler. But I guess Strasser has no reason to harass Kim anymore.”

“The writers dropped the ball on that storyline.” Penelope replied. “We never saw it play out. They’ve done that with a few things. I hope they pick some up again this season. We still don’t know how Drake will exact revenge against Cecilia.”

“Well I'm looking forward to next week.” Morgan finished his beer. “The premiere was good but that just cracked the vault. I think Season 3 is going to be the best season yet.”

“Are we going to be here next week?” Emily asked.

“Well I just wanted to have a premiere party.” Dave said. “I hate to be a geezer but by the time I get rid of all of you it'll be midnight. I have work in the morning.”

“Geezer.” Will said, fake sneezing into his elbow.

“Wow, LaMontagne has jokes.”

“We can all watch it at our respective homes.” Hotch said. “Then you guys can waste precious time on Monday, and possibly Tuesday, overanalyzing it.”

“I DVR it when we’re on the road.” Emily said. She stood from the couch where she was sitting with Jordan and Erin. “We should probably wrap this up so Grandpa can get to sleep.”

“Haha.” Dave replied.

“I’ll help clean.” Penelope stood too. She started collecting beer bottles and tiny plates.

“Thank you Penelope.” Erin smiled.

“Alright folks, it’s been wonderful but now its time to go.” Dave said.

They all stood, laughing and chatting as they made their way to the hall closet and then the front door. Kevin stuck around to take Penelope home so Erin had no problem putting him plate scrape duty.

“Sam, it was good to see you.” Dave was standing with him and Jessie at the door. “It’s always good to see you, Jess.”

“Thanks Dave.” She smiled. “I had a great time.”

“You're welcome back anytime. We’re all family here, whether we want to be or not.”

“Amen to that.” Emily said as she slipped into her jacket. “Aaron, I’ll be in the car.”

She kissed her brother and sister-in-law before walking out. He knew ‘in the car’ meant she and Jordan would chatter outside the car until he came out. He hugged Jessie, shook Sam’s hand, and then they were gone.

“It was good.” Dave said.

“Other than having to sit through _BSU_ , it was.”

“When are you just going to come over to the dark side Aaron; we have cookies?”

“Never.” Hotch shook his head. “But I’ll watch whenever we’re home because I like to keep peace and harmony with my wife.”

“Amen to that.”

There was suddenly laughter from the kitchen. It was manic laughter and it made Dave smile. He knew which one was Erin and which was Penelope.

“I have concerns about Erin and Penelope being left alone.” He said.

“Kevin’s in there.”

“He can be easily intimidated.”

There was more laughter, then glass broke, and Erin shouted out an expletive. Soon they were laughing again.

“You better get in there to make sure everything’s alright.” Hotch said.

“You better get out there.” Dave countered. “Emily and Jordan could be in the final stages of their world domination plan.”

“Sometimes those two…” the Unit Chief shook his head.

He and Dave said goodnight. Dave walked back into his kitchen. It was a surreal scene of Kevin on the floor playing with the dog while Penelope and Erin talked and loaded the dishwasher.

“The boy loves dogs.” Penelope explained.

“I had a black Lab growing up.” Kevin petted Mudgie’s head. “Agent Strauss says he's a Chesapeake Bay retriever.”

“Yes.” Dave nodded. “He’s a good mutt.”

“Well we’ll get out of your hair.” Penelope said. “Thank you, thank you for hosting us.”

She kissed Erin’s cheek; kissed Dave’s, and told them she and Kevin would see themselves out.

“Goodnight.” Erin waved. She looked at the microwave clock. “11:37…that’s not too bad.”

“We made good time. I still have to come down before I can sleep.”

“Well we better get you up there so you start.”

“What were you and Penelope laughing about?” Dave asked. Erin walked around the island. Dave slid his arm around her waist.

“We were talking more about shipping. She was telling me all about something called fanvids and stories called fanfiction. She was sure there were spicy Palmieri/Strasser stories out there and she’d send me a link to a site called AO3. I might enjoy reading other fan’s take on the relationship.”

“That might be too meta even for me, baby.”

“Meta?” she looked at him.

“We’ll talk about it later. Now its bedtime.” Dave kissed her. “You were an amazing hostess tonight. Playfully throwing the pillow at Prentiss was my favorite part.”

“Say that three times fast.” Erin replied laughing. “I had a lot of fun.”

“So did I. It’s nice to have the family over sometimes.”

“Its always interesting, that’s for sure.”

“You go upstairs baby and I’ll make sure everything is locked up tight.”

“OK. C'mon sweetie.”

Mudgie looked up when Erin called him and then followed her up the back stairs. Dave looked after them before going to the door to set the alarm. It had been a great night and if he was lucky there would be just a little more sweetness before it was over.

***


End file.
